What will Trump say in Harrisburg? White House official dishes on that and more

Taxes, truckers and Central Pennsylvania's role as a major transportation hub will feature prominently in President Donald Trump's speech in Harrisburg Wednesday, according to a senior White House official.

When Trump takes the stage inside a hangar at the Air National Guard base at the Harrisburg International Airport Wednesday evening, he will be surrounded by actual trucks, some with custom "wraps," said the official, in a conference call with reporters, under an agreement that he not be named.

The exact time that Trump will take the stage has not been publicly announced. But people with invitations say they plan to show up as early as 3 p.m., expecting his remarks to begin between 5 pm. and 6 p.m.

The public likely won't get to see Air Force One land on the runway this visit, as there were no provisions for public access or media coverage of his plane's arrival.

About 1,000 invitations for the president's speech were issued through county Republican committees, manufacturing and trucking leaders and the regional business chamber. The number of tickets were determined by the fire marshal's capacity for the hangar, the official said.

Trump is forgoing a giant pep rally open to the public, like from his previous visits to the area, for a more intimate, focused remarks on tax reform with a hand-selected audience.

His remarks overwhelmingly will be about tax reform, the official said, but Trump may open by addressing some recent current events.

The crowd will include county commissioners, state legislators, Pennsylvania manufacturing leaders, and of course, truckers.

"If truckers are moving, the economy is moving," the official said.

The president is likely to detail the tax situations of four or five Pennsylvanians who will be in the crowd, the official said. Trump also is expected to tell the story of a Pennsylvania family that owns a trucking company and how the current "death tax" adversely impacts such families when they want to pass their business on to their children. Those families may be rich in "capital," such as trucks and equipment, the official said, but not rich with cash on hand.

One of the recommendations in Trump's tax reform plan is to abolish the so-called death tax, which is also known as the estate tax.

While Trump is portraying the elimination of the estate tax as a boon for small businesses and family farms, only .2 percent of Americans currently pay the tax, according to Congress' Join Committee on Taxation, as reported by The Hill.

Trump is focusing on truckers in his speech, the official said, because trucking is the largest employer in 29 states and truckers would be a "major beneficiary" of Trump's tax plan.

The official said truckers would benefit directly by seeing their own rates reduced to 15 percent from nearly 40 percent for those set up as S-Corporations who receive pass-through income.

The truckers also would benefit, under the president's theory, because manufacturers would pay fewer taxes and boost production, creating more goods to deliver.

Trump has unveiled goals for his tax reform plan, including that it become much more simplified, but few specifics. He's leaving the details up to Congress, which will eventually draw up a bill.

Pennsylvania is " full of salt of the earth" people and hard workers, which is why the official said Trump wanted to give his remarks on his tax reform here.

The visit marks Trump's third to the area since becoming president.

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